Inspired by the Beats, other local musicians and early Post Punk, Mardou made waves in 2013

Mardou calls its music “Post Punk/Noise
Pop shit,” which is as good a descriptor as any. The fresh-faced local
quartet had a fruitful 2013,
dropping a pair of addictive EPs that recall myriad sonic antecedents (most
notably Joy Division and Sonic Youth) yet are intriguing enough on their
own to yield genuine excitement about what these guys might conjure
going forward.

National attention for Tweens promises to continue in 2014 with their debut album release

When Bridget Battle contemplates the
question of what she considers to be the high points of the past year
for Tweens, she flips through a mental Rolodex of memories that have
been forged with such volume and intensity it’s easy to see that they’ve
not yet been cataloged or quantified. “It’s so hard to go back and sometimes we don’t
even have time to stop and be like, ‘Whoa,’” she says.

Archer’s Paradox formed in 2012, and
it wasn’t long before the newly minted six-piece was making a name for
itself, grabbing a slot at the inaugural Bunbury Music Festival and
earning a growing number of converts.

In 2013, Belle Histoire’s Jane Smith planted new
musical seeds with her solo venture Decker while insisting Belle
Histoire was merely on hiatus. But when guitarist Austin Livingood
stepped up to the solo plate last summer and knocked his debut EP, The Weightless Anchor: By Plane (I), out of the park, the writing was on the wall.

A look at some of Greater Cincinnati’s top artists to watch in 2014

Local music has been a priority at CityBeat
ever since the paper was founded almost 20 years ago. And a huge part
of that focus has been on new artists, the lifeblood of any strong music
scene. Judging by the new artists who grabbed
our attention in 2013, the future of the Greater Cincinnati music scene
is in very good hands.

A man, a plan and a $5 sandwich

Back in early 2011, there was a guy making
pulled-pork barbecue sandwiches on Fountain Square in the worst weather
ever. During the coldest, wettest spring in memory, followed by the
hottest, driest, most unbearable summer, this curly-haired,
fair-skinned, fully sunburned guy stood over a blazing flattop grill,
heating up scoops of hickory-smoked pork shoulder, cutting up the big
chunks with a pizza slicing wheel.

Local craft breweries aim to reclaim the Queen City's title as King of Beers

Whether you’re interested in checking
out the breweries, sampling their eclectic beers or filling up your
growler and heading for home, these local breweries promise to make the
future of Cincinnati brewing just as respected as its storied past.

A metaphysical feud is causing tension between two very different stewards of Serpent Mound

The Serpent’s great debate continues as
it challenges a colorful group of experts that include archeologists,
geologists, anthropologists, astrologists, paleontologists, fringe
scientists, and “archaeoastronomists.” And the quest to answer the Serpent Mound
mystery has sparked a present day stand-off between Native Americans
and “New Agers.”